The Parkgate

This picture is one of two in my old album which show ships which had just passed in front of our last house in Mombasa, at the end of Cliff Avenue, and are entering Kilindini harbour. Beyond her and to the left are the breakers of the Andromache reef, and the headland behind her is Ras Mwa Kisinga. The photo is little different from the other one, which is on the same page of the album, because two tugs are in attendance.

This intrigued me. Tugs didn't normally escort vessels into Mombasa harbour unless there was a problem, so I looked up  the list of 'Strandings & Salvage on the Kenya Coast 1799 - 2017' in Kevin Patience's excellent book Shipwrecks  and Salvage on the East African Coast, and found the story of the Parkgate.

Her master sent out an emergency call on 4th September 1960 from a position 900 miles north of Mombasa following a breakdown of her engines, and was towed into port by one of my father's ships, the Harrison Line Journalist....

....which is the ship in the other picture (above). The two pictures were taken on the same day. I hadn't noticed it before but in this one the tow line can be seen extending from the stern of Journalist.

The two ships arrived in Mombasa on 17th September. Under the insurer's 'no cure, no pay' agreement, Harrisons was awarded £15,000 for the salvage, of which £5,000 went to the crew.

The tug to the right is East African Railway & Harbour's Nyati while the one to the left is the EAR&H Kongoni.